Chapter 453-Unplanned Betrayal

Chapter 453: 453-Unplanned Betrayal

Jaguar:

Few hours ago:

There was a lie in every word spoken, and things grew even more awkward when Ragnar finally let his facade slip a little.

The way he spoke to her, the innuendos in his voice, everything seemed eerily suggestive, especially when he lowered his gaze and called her a good girl.

I offered her a smile before turning to my brother.

"Well, thanks for fighting for us," I remarked, even as my heart cracked a little more.

I’d tried so hard to convince myself that Ragnar would never do something like this.

After everything we’d been through, our past had been so traumatizing that I couldn’t imagine him ever putting our trust at risk.

But he had.

I couldn’t believe it. My own brother had broken my heart.

The fact that he knew how serious Theodore and I had become about Verity, yet still couldn’t control himself, made everything so much worse.

There were millions of women in the world who would practically worship Ragnar.

All he had to do was point at one, and she’d willingly fall into his lap.

Yet, out of everyone he could have chosen, he’d decided to mess around with the woman his brothers were mated to.

And now I was beginning to question everything, including all those times in the past when there had been clear indications that something was going on between them.

In fact, there had been an incident when Theodore and I caught Ragnar coming out of Verity’s room early in the morning while she was still fast asleep.

He’d claimed he was merely waiting for her outside the door in her living area, but his lie had been obvious.

Even then, I’d convinced myself that my brother would never betray me like that.

But knowing that Verity had willingly gone along with it, despite everything between us, was enough to drive me out of my mind.

"Anyway, we’ll take our leave now," I announced, forcing a smile. "By the way, we weren’t even that bothered by the videos because we know what goes on behind closed doors. We understand there are bound to be arguments, especially since Verity isn’t just your secretary anymore. She’s also going to be part of our family, so of course, we understand."

"Anyway, we should really leave now," Theodore chimed in, managing a smile of his own.

Gigi let out a deep breath, looking thoroughly convinced by our explanation.

"I’m glad we cleared this up," she remarked before turning to Ragnar. "Ragnar, I’d like to talk to you about something. It’s about the whole arrangement."

She practically purred like a kitten, seeking his attention.

"Yeah, sure. Let’s go to the waiting room. What do you say?" Ragnar offered.

How interesting. The same Ragnar who’d been so busy just moments ago was suddenly being unusually sweet to her.

He was hiding something.

Gigi didn’t seem to notice it, and even if she did, she’d probably choose to overlook it.

That was how she was. She could forget about things so easily, but I couldn’t.

I didn’t spare Verity another glance before walking out, with Theodore following close behind.

We made our way toward the elevator in silence.

"You didn’t believe them, did you?" Theodore finally asked.

I let out a sarcastic chuckle.

"No. Do you really think I’m that much of a fool?" I retorted.

We stepped into the elevator, and I could tell Theodore was feeling just as betrayed as I was.

For starters, Verity hadn’t even left Ragnar’s office all day. He’d practically kept her confined in there.

And all this time, when Ragnar had insisted that Verity shouldn’t communicate with us, it hadn’t been because he was worried we’d fight over her.

It had been for an entirely different reason.

"He was doing it for himself," I muttered.

By the time Theodore and I returned to our mansion, neither of us was in the mood to do anything.

Even though we were rivals when it came to Verity, we found ourselves sitting together in the garden, drinking in silence.

Ragnar hadn’t come home either.

Apparently, he’d gone out for lunch with some clients, but I had a feeling that was another one of his lies.

He was probably with Verity.

"So all this time, when Ragnar didn’t want her speaking to us, it wasn’t because he was afraid we’d fight over her," I told Theodore, unable to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

"Yeah, he was doing it for himself. And the fact that Verity knew what was going on and never told us anything..." Theodore shook his head.

"I want to confront Verity," I told Theodore, who immediately gave me a look. "And I know you don’t want to do it because you’re still trying to stay in her good books, but I’m sorry, I can’t do this anymore. Ragnar is my everything, practically a father figure to me. I just can’t imagine him betraying us like that."

Theodore stared at me in silence before grabbing the bottle of wine and taking several long swigs straight from it.

When he finally lowered it, he nodded.

"Let’s go. Let’s confront her together, because fuck it. I’m done being nice, too," Theodore snapped, and I couldn’t have agreed more.

I couldn’t just sit around waiting for Verity to reject me because she was having an affair with my own brother, a man who was already engaged to another woman.

A woman we cared about, too.

It was all such a fucking mess.

Theodore was right. We couldn’t keep pretending everything was fine.

We both rose to our feet, and I grabbed a bottle of wine myself, knowing I’d probably need every last drop of it.

Then we climbed into my car together.

I couldn’t even remember the last time Theodore and I had ridden in the same car like this, united by a common purpose.

But here we were, heading off to confront the very person who had driven us apart.

It was crazy how Verity had been the reason we’d fallen out in the first place, and now she was the very reason we were coming together again.

We knew where she was staying. She was at the office, so there was no question about where we needed to go.

Theodore remained silent throughout the drive, even though I was sure a hundred questions were running through his mind.

When I finally pulled into the parking lot, he glanced at me, seemingly just as determined to go through with this as I was.

We stumbled out of the car, our drunk asses heading straight for the door.

But the moment we opened it, we were greeted by a sight that would probably change everything for us.